14 March 2016

Will Pakistan Integrate Gilgit Baltistan? And What If?

Author: D. Suba Chandran
To read the complete report click here

Pakistan government has recently constituted a committee to “upgrade the status” of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) either into a “constitutional province” or a “provisional province” of Pakistan. This perhaps is the second major step by Islamabad in the recent years, after creating the current Gilgit Baltistan Legislative Assembly through a Presidential Order by Asif Ali Zardari in 2009.
What is the contemporary need for Pakistan to change the status of GB? Is it responding to internal demands from GB, or external pressure from China? Or is there a slow burn in the recent years, in terms of fully integrating GB, but through an administrative salami slicing? What is likely to become of the GB status?
To read the complete report click here
About the Author: D. Suba Chandran is Professor at the International Strategic and Security Studies Programme, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore.

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